Israel Active

72 members of the US Congress (over 15% of the entire House of Representatives) came to Israel on concurrent Republican and Democrat trips to get a firsthand view of the challenges Israel faces and to express unconditional, bipartisan support for the Jewish state.

Israel is to host 27 graduate students from 24 US institutions as part of the Limnology and Oceanography Research Exchange (LOREX) program. Students will study at the University of Haifa’s marine sciences school and the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat.

Britain’s new ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, presented his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin. He revealed that he first met his wife Yael in Israel on a previous posting in 2002. Also, his grandfather was the commander of British forces that liberated Bergen-Belsen.

Nazareth- based NGT (Next Generation Technology) serves as an incubator for 19 innovative life science and medical technology companies. It also has a social agenda – to bring Arab and Jewish entrepreneurs together to work in the same environment and achieve startup success.

900 volunteers in Israeli NGO Road to Recovery take Palestinian Arabs (around 150 every day) to get lifesaving treatments in Israeli hospitals. The NGO recently won the IIE Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East. It also arranges beach days and has saved Israeli lives.

British Special Forces have reportedly adopted an electric motorcycle developed in Israel. In a recent exercise, the British Army parachuted the motorcycles from a helicopter together with soldiers, who then traveled 10 miles on the silent vehicles.

I reported previously on Ido Aharoni when he was publicizing Israel’s achievements in his work at the Israeli embassy in New York. Now at New York University, Professor Aharoni is still “changing the conversation” with his “Birthright for academics” program to positively rebrand Israel.

Hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish educators visited Israel for a World Education Conference organized by KKL-JNF. The aim of the trip was to strengthen the teachers' connection to and understanding of Israel, in order to teach about Israel in a more informed way.

A couple of weeks ago I reported that Israeli archaeologists had unearthed an ancient mosque, showing that Israel respected the history of all religions. Now, excavations in Israel’s Galilee have uncovered remains of an ancient church said to mark the home of the apostles Peter and Andrew.

I reported previously on Israeli NGO Tech-Career that has helped 550 Ethiopian-Israelis get jobs at Israel’s top hi-tech companies. Tech-Career held a recent event to show that the Ethiopian-Israeli community can be a bridge between Israel and the African tech market.